Carnivàle – 2.08 – Outskirts, Damascus, NE

Posted by Samuel Walters

“Outskirts, Damascus, NE” finally represents a rapid increase in the narrative of Carnivàle. Events, as related to Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin, are beginning to flow swiftly. And, for this particular episode at least, there is a legitimate “beginning, middle, end” storyline that takes a character (Samson) on a specific story arc. Unfortunately, the episode (much like the series now) is burdened by the soap opera antics of Rita Sue, Stumpy, Jonesy and Libby.

The soap opera storyline serves, once again, purely as filler in the sense that it does nothing to inform the overall mythos of Carnivàle. Instead, it provides a nonsensical distraction from what makes this series so distinct from just about every other television program out there: its fundamental underlying premise. As such, I simply don’t care at all about whether or not Libby got married to Jonesy, or that Libby will dance the cooch, but not turn tricks, to help her father pay off his gambling debts.

The real heart of this episode comes from the fallout of Ben’s murder of Management. For starters, there is the very fundamental changes within Ben Hawkins as a result of receiving his “boon” – the benefits of having killed his predecessor. If you have seen The Highlander, it’s akin to The Quickening. The result is that Ben Hawkins is now a very powerful individual – he mentions a reference to him being a Prince.

The second consequence (and most prominent in the episode) of Hawkins’ murder of Management comes from Samson. His performance is exceptionally strong in this episode. Samson fully understands his friend, and understands that Management could have set things up to unfold this way. And we see Samson question Hawkins, trying to come to terms with what has happened. But the more outlandish the explanations become, the more Samson has difficulty coming to terms with the fact that Ben Hawkins killed his friend.

Samson’s journey in this episode becomes one of acceptance. In many ways he goes through the infamous “five stages of grief” as he finally realizes that he needs to help Ben Hawkins on his mission. The turning point came during a tragic accident with the colossus Ferris wheel. A mother and son fell from the top of the ride, killing the son and severely injuring the woman. The mother repeats over and over a plea to God, asking him to take her life in exchange for her son’s life. Enter Ben Hawkins who uses his power to bring the boy back to life at the expense of the mother. Seeing this, Samson realizes that he must indeed help Ben, regardless of his own sense of loss.

The final consequence of Ben Hawkins’ murder of Management comes from Brother Justin. As Management dies, Brother Justin has a nervous fit and collapses onto the floor. Later it is revealed that, somehow, his tattoo has become an open wound across his entire body. Fortunately for him, however, in the chaos following the death of Management, Stroud managed to capture Scudder and is on his way to Brother Justin.

One final item of note: as the episode ends, it is revealed that Sofie has ended up as Brother Justin’s newest maid. It’s in an interesting enough concept, but the reveal was exceptionally cheesy.

Overall Grade: C+

“Outskirts, Damascus, NE” is a fairly compelling episode when you ignore the nonsense of the cooch family. The problem is that their story receives the same level of prominence as Ben’s story – and as such it nearly threatens to drown out what is otherwise a series of fairly significant plot developments.

Filed under: Carnivàle